The International Skating Union (ISU) has revealed it is budgeting for a loss of CHF10.6 million ($10.7 million) during the next three years, as funding from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decreases substantially.
At the ISU’s congress last week (which concluded on June 10), director general Fredi Schmid revealed that, whereas the ISU has been receiving around CHF11 million from the IOC annually over the last four years, the figure will decrease to CHF9 million per year in the next Olympic cycle – through to the 2026 Winter Games.
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That would lead to a total shortfall in that income of CHF8 million over the next four years.
These figures were outlined as Schmid revealed the governing body’s budget for the 2022-24 period at the congress.
He said: “One negative development is that the IOC incomes in the past periods were CHF11 million, but unfortunately the IOC [has] advised us that based on preliminary figures from Being [and the 2022 Winter Olympics], the income distributed among stakeholders will be lower.”
He added: “The confirmation will follow later this year … We are not sure exactly how the incomes will end up.”
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By GlobalDataIn total, the ISU has forecast income for the next three years of CHF104.89 million, with the aforementioned loss expected despite cuts in both the governing body’s development program and personnel expenses.
The body is also set to sell off its former offices in Davos, Switzerland, for around CHF1.3 million. Schmid said this income would go towards “emergency situations.”
He said, regarding the general financial outlook for the organization: “Despite continually striving to secure the current incomes and developing new ones, further cost-saving measures are required beyond those included in this budget proposal.”
South Korea’s Kim Jae-youl, the newly elected ISU president, added: “Simply put, we need more money so what we need during these difficult times is a leader who can manage ISU like a business, and today I stand here because I have relevant, real-world experience to help grow our sport.”
The ISU elected Kim as its first non-European president on June 9, and he will take over from the Netherlands’ Jam Dijkema.
The new president led the Korea Skating Union from 2011 to 2016 and was a member of the IOC’s coordination commission for Beijing 2022.
At the previous Winter Olympics, Pyeongchang 2018 (in South Korea), Kim was an executive vice president of the games’ organizing committee.
He also sits on the IOC’s Olympic Programme Commission, and outside of sports is the president of the global strategy group of Korean electronics giant Samsung.
It was first reported that Dijkema would step down from the ISU’s helm in January this year.
The ISU has been very much in the public eye this month, with the news that the governing body will raise the minimum age for competitors in senior events from 15 to 17, following the controversial series of incidents surrounding Russian skater Kamila Valieva – at that point 15 – at the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing earlier this year.
The minimum age will be raised to 16 for the 2023-24 season and 17 from 2024-25 after Valieva was provisionally banned in Beijing for failing a drug test but still allowed to compete in another event during the games, partly because of her age.
The ISU took the decision through a vote earlier this week, with 100 member countries backing the change and only 16 opposed.
